Iranian communists call for peace as US threatens war

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IRANIAN communists have called for unity among the country’s progressives striving for peace in response to US sabre-rattling intent on provoking war with Tehran.

The Tudeh Party noted “a very worrying rise of tensions between the racist, pseudo-fascist, and reactionary Trump administration and the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran” in recent days.

It warned that imperialist intervention would lead to bloodshed and must be “resisted and confronted with full power.”

US National Security Adviser John Bolton recently mobilised the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to the Arabian Sea under the control of CentCom (US Central Command in the Middle East).

On Tuesday B-52 strategic bombers arrived at the US air base al-Udeid in the south-west of Doha, Qatar.

He claimed the move was in response to “Iran’s worrying behaviours,” with the aim of sending “a clear message to the Iranian regime that any attack on the interests of the United States or its allies will be met with unrelenting power.”

The US has dispatched the biggest military mobilisation to the Persian Gulf in the past 30 years.

This includes the USS Arlington, an amphibious transport dock ship designed to land troops and vehciles onto a beachhead, and Patriot anti-missile systems, as the threat of war looms.

Mr Bolton has already drawn up plans to deploy a force of 120,000 troops “should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons.”

Washington has ratcheted-up tensions with Iran since it pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal last year, despite Tehran abiding by its side of the agreement.

Iran has announced that it will stop honouring some parts of the deal as hostilities between the two administrations escalate.

The punitive sanctions regime is causing hardship for Iranians as the economy continues to plummet due to falling oil sales, with millions living below the poverty line.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that its impact could be more severe than the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.

An anonymous official admitted to the Times newspaper that the “ultimate goal of the year-long economic sanctions campaign ... was to draw Iran into an armed conflict with the US."

The refusal to extend the exemption from sanctions related to oil sales to several countries was met with an angry response from Tehran.

Iran warned that if it is blocked from using the Strait of Hormuz “we will not hesitate even a moment to protect and defend the Iranian waterway.”

Tudeh called for all progressive forces in the region to unite “to prevent a dangerous and catastrophic military conflict” that would have terrible consequences.